Assume Meaning
/əˈsjuːm/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof.
verbTo take on a position, duty or form.
Sentence Examples
We assume that he is honest.
The question began to assume a new character.
Do not assume that the project is finished without checking first.
CEFR Practice Quiz
I cannot simply ____ that everyone has read the instructions before starting.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is never a good idea to ____ something before you have the facts.
Word Origin & History
From Latin assūmō (“accept, take”), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + sūmō (“take up, assume”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Levelling of ME /irC/ and /urC/, which Orton assumes for the whole of the North (S. Durham §§411-13), has not taken place in Dent and S.We, where ME /urC/ remains (4:46)."
— 1967, Bertil Hedevind, The Dialect of Dentdale in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Uppsala: Appelbergs Boktryckeri AB, § 4.8, page 98:
"Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much."
— 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
"Trembling they stand while Jove assumes the throne."
— 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book I”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
"Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off."
— 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
"His unruly hair was slicked down with water, and as Jessamy introduced him to Miss Brindle his face assumed a cherubic innocence which would immediately have aroused the suspicions of anyone who knew him."
— 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 96:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I cannot simply ____ that everyone has read the instructions before starting.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is never a good idea to ____ something before you have the facts.